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PAST WEEK’S FUEL FOR THOUGHT

1. When web search began, marketers used paid search and SEO to make content findable on their own web pages.  Today, it’s not just what’s on a page or who links to it; it’s how it relates to the user’s personal networks.  Social Media Means for Search provides a great view into how the traditional search is converging with social media.
2. A refreshing article from the NY Times on how some marketers are staying true to both their brand and their customers through new product innovations
3. A recent Hitwise press release states that Google leveraged 72% share of searches in Feb-09.  The report also noted that longer search queries are becoming more popular (20% increase for 8-plus keywords) and search engines continue to be the primary way Internet users navigate to key industry categories.
4. A couple of new reports on mobile web were released last week.  Highlights include:

• comScore’s Mobile Internet Becoming A Daily Activity For Many:  The number of people (63 million) using their mobile device to access news and information on the Internet more than doubled from January 2008 to January 2009.
• AdMob’s Mobile Metrics:  iPhone makes up 50% of U.S. Smartphone web traffic.

GREAT RESOURCES

1. Creating a Soundscape in Flash/AS3 by our resident Senior Interactive Designer, Joe Schorn offers a step-by-step guide to creating Soundscape classes.
2. Social Media Marketing Industry Report by Michael Stelzner is based on surveying close to 900 marketers.  The report covers the benefits of social media, how much time marketers are investing, how time invested impacts results and top social media tools.

AROUND TWITTERVILLE

1. Although Twitter was originally intended for communication among individuals, businesses are actively participating on the platform.  A recent report from Gartner highlights four different ways companies are using Twitter for business.

• Direct: The company uses Twitter as a marketing or public relations channel.
• Indirect: The company’s employees use Twitter to enhance and extend their personal reputations, thereby enhancing the company’s reputation.
• Internal: Employees use the platform to communicate about what they are doing, projects they are working on and ideas that occur to them.
• Inbound Signaling: The company uses Twitter to gather information about what customers, competitors and others are saying about the company.

1. Developed by Federated Media and sponsored by Microsoft, ExecTweets launched as a beta last week.  The site aggregates and groups Tweets from business executives by verticals and offers additional features to easily keep track of brands/executives on Twitter.

INTRODUCTION TO…

We’re focusing on some cool and free collaboration tools this week.

1. Box.net is an online file system that allows users to store, access and share files remotely.
2. OfficeZilla is a free project management tool that allows your organization to share calendars, files and contacts, as well as create forums and discussions.
3. EtherPad is a real-time collaboration tool that lets multiple people work on the same text simultaneously.

VIDEO SNACKING

This week’s video is from @davemorin  – “How do you create one of the best brands in the world? Customer service is #1 plus give your employees trust and creativity.”

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Tags: Sigma Group, Weekly Round-Up

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 31st, 2009 at 1:07 pm and is filed under Marketing News, Weekly Round-Up. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.